LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE MEN (AND THE LADY)

Where are the leading men of yester-year? Those suave, versatile show-stoppers who can sing, dance, act and make’em laugh in any genre, as comfortable on the stage as they are on screens big and small. Where is Mr. James Cagney? Mr. Bert Lahr? Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr. ? Mr. Robert Preston? Where are the heirs to these consummate entertainers? One of them most assuredly is here tonight with the NSO at Wolf Trap: Matthew Morrison. Before he became the heartthrob Spanish teacher/glee club coach on Fox television’s Glee, Morrison was already the real thing: a Broadway song-and-dance man who worked the boards in musical adaptations of films (Footloose, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hairspray), revivals of musical theater classics (South Pacific) and new works for the stage (The Light in the Piazza). And let us not forget his YouTube classic: ukulele rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll. Morrison’s accomplished professionalism and youthful verve come with that special something (perhaps the dimpled chin that his Glee nemesis Sue Sylvester mocks?) that empowers his let’s-put-on-a-show television cast to create fully choreographed, costumed, fully orchestrated production numbers in a matter of minutes. He is the consummate teacher-mentor in a cardigan, inspiring his students to aim high but always there in case they fall. He is Mr. Kotter, but without the New York wisecracks and with a music director always on call. Morrison’s charisma on stage and screen are undeniable, and we look forward to seeing his many talents on the stage tonight under the baton of NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke, but he is, in fact, part of a wonderful generation of leading men who can truly “do it all.” If you’ve seen Hugh Jackman purr “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” onstage in Oklahoma! or shake his stuff in The Boy from Oz you’d find it hard to believe he’s Wolverine. If you confuse the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, with the openly gay actor Neil Patrick Harris, then you’ll be seriously befuddled by his Tony Award-winning performance as a transsexual rock star on Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. And let’s not forget those Broadway stalwarts, Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane who, separately or together, can bring the house down in any and every genre they tackle. Of course, the one thing every leading man needs is a woman, and who better to join the NSO and Matthew Morrison tonight than the lovely Laura Benanti. Nominated four times for the Tony Award (and garnering one for her performance as Louise in Gypsy) Benanti, like Morrison, is the tried and true Broadway professional, gliding easily from featured roles to leading roles in such productions as Swing!, Into the Woods, Nine, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. This past December international audiences enjoyed her as the Baroness Elsa in the NBC live television presentation of The Sound of Music. We hear a lot about movie stars who pay a visit to Broadway now and then, perhaps because of a devout passion for the theater, perhaps to garner the imprimatur of a serious actor, perhaps to add a Tony to their trophy room. Some of them succeed, some of them flop. And their efforts should not be diminished. But they don’t quite compare to Broadway pros, like Matthew Morrison and Laura Benanti, who do what they do eight times a week, week after week, bringing cheering audiences to their feet. We expect no less tonight. Here’s wishing you a very gleeful evening! Emil de Cou NSO at Wolf Trap Festival Conductor